question about using unfiltered water

[bigdaddy234]

Hey guys,

the water in my town is rated some of the best in Canada. there is no chlorine/ any other junk added. its crisp and refreshing to drink right out of the tap.

its also very soft with little minerals if any.

I also tested it for phosphates and it has none.

would using this water without a RO/di potentially be acceptable?

someone else told me to check it for copper. what else should i check it for?

cheers.

[FamilyTank]

Can't help ya, but I had a buddy that lived at "the tip of the mitt" top of Michigans lower pennisula. His well water was simply delicious. Just crystal clear and refreshing like you said.

[Subsea]

You should be able to get a detailed list of what is in the water from your public manincipality.

I live in the Texas Hill Country with ground water in a limestone aquifer. The water is high in calcium, magnesium and sulfur. It goes straight into the tank. Why should I use RODI to remove benificial minerals that are used up in my reef tank? Just my two cents worth.

[Sonyardo]

If it's local well water then I would have it lab tested/or obtain lab results from the local water treatment Company. Some things are completely acceptable for human consumption that will wreck a Reef Tank. My advise it to proceed with caution.

[Sonyardo]

For what it's worth, I used to live in an area that was surrounded by chemical plants and Rural farms. The TDS was very low out of the Tap. I would hate to know all the chemicals that were leached into the ground water there. The old TDS meter would give you some false sense of security in that situation. All FYI.

[kozmic]

If it were me, I would still RO/DI... and just look at good source water as a boon toward my filters lasting much much longer than usual. I mean...RO/DI systems are not really that costly given the rewards.

[Kevin Guthrie]

AFAIK all municipal water supplies get treated. If the dkh is high they treat it so you don't get scale. If OTOH the pH is low they treat it so that old lead pipes don't leach. Tell your dpw what you want to use it for and specifically ask about phosphate because some of the additives are phosphate based.

[C.Eymann]

Without sending a sample to a lab that can analyze it via spectrometer or other means, you haven't a clue what's in it, like mentioned, pushing it through a RODI unit is a wise idea and good insurance.

[sokiu]

You should be able to get a detailed list of what is in the water from your public manincipality.

[C.Eymann]

Originally Posted by sokiu

You should be able to get a detailed list of what is in the water from your public manincipality.

Wouldnt trust it, independent laboratory only.

Just my .02

[CStrickland]

Originally Posted by kozmic

If it were me, I would still RO/DI... and just look at good source water as a boon toward my filters lasting much much longer than usual

This.
Our salt is made to be added to pure h2o, and there is no way that's coming out of your tap. That would be super expensive, eat holes in the pipes. So you're asking if you can figure out whether the not-water in your water is harmful, but there's no way to know.

For example, you'd need a copper test a hundred times stronger than the ones they sell at fish stores; and so on for all the other stuff.

Besides just what's in the water you add, a normal water change routine leaves 90% of the water behind each week. In an 80 degrees tank, that's evaporating and concentrating any contaminants pretty significantly over time. Just think how much top-off water gets used - then imagine how much crud would build up if you were boiling that away in a pot all day every day. After a while the pot would get dirty.

Lastly, even if you could test the water for every single thing that is fine for people but can hurt our super delicate reef animals, you would have to test it every time. In the states, our water supplies are tested yearly and the results are available by law. I'm sure you have something similar. What they do is test it once a year as it leaves the plant (not as it leaves your tap) for stuff that hurts people (not coral), and to make sure they use enough disinfectant. The othe 364 days are a mystery. ma y providers here flush the pipes with chloramine on occasion to blast the crud out. You don't get notice, just one day there's a 4x dose in your water. Or maybe like Flint Michigan, they screw around with the treatment and nobody's the wiser until a serious issue is in full play.

[ReefsandGeeks]

Really up to you if you think it's worth risking your tank to save the cost and inconvenience of using an RO/DI. Personally, I've invested quite a lot of money, effort, and time into my tank, and wouldn't dare use anything other than RODI in my tank. Just not worth the risk for me, no matter how good the tap water is. If nothing else, it eases my mind that I know it's good. Also, if you ever have any issues with your tank, things dying or not growing, algea growth, lethargic fish...etc, the first thing anyone will tell you to do is to check your perameters, and if you're using RODI. Why? because that's the biggest culprit to problems in the tank. And since you can't test your tap for a lot of the things harmful to your tank, you'd never know if it were an issue or not, and may go about spending a lot of time, effort and possibly cash trying to fix a problem that could just be from using tap water.

Again, this is my view on it, but ultimately it's up to you if it's worth the risk or not. Most of us on RC use nothing but RODI, but there are some who swear their tap has caused no problems over years.

[Bent]

I still wouldn't use it.

This hobby is frustrating enough without adding to the variables.

[Timfish]

Here's a system I use tapwater on. Water comes from a local reservoir.

http://youtu.be/-eCQSVdqBQA

[skiingfast]

Reef keeping is older than at home RO treated water.

[Bent]

Originally Posted by skiingfast

Reef keeping is older than at home RO treated water.

I'm aware of that, I was one of those people doing it back then and trust me, it was much harder.

[Paul B]

I used local New York City water for many years with no problems. Then I moved to Long Island and used that water. One day I changed some water and immediately my corals shriveled up. I couldn't figure out what happened but I lost most of my corals. I thought it was my salt. Then I called the water company and found out they added zinc orthophosphate to the water system to control corrosion in the pipes. They said it was good for the pipes and people. Corals, not so much.

[kozmic]

Originally Posted by skiingfast

Reef keeping is older than at home RO treated water.

lol... and people used to have to walk from one town to the next... I guess one still could, but why?

/sry - couldn't resist...

[Aquanius]

Originally Posted by kozmic

lol... and people used to have to walk from one town to the next... I guess one still could, but why?

/sry - couldn't resist...

In snow, up hills, both ways?

If you are going to do that then I would recommend at the least a full lab test, it will probably run you about half the cost of a decent rodi, but if you're wrong then you can look at it as costing you 50% more for a rodi